Ben Branam was born in California and moved to Austin in 2004. Four months ago, he moved to San Antonio to help start a church and pursue his own business, Modern Self Protection. Ben spent 10 years in the Marine Corps, did a combat tour in Iraq, spent a year as part of an anti-terrorist company, and taught anti-terrorism, shooting, and advance combat skills. He left to take a job as a private contractor for the Army in Iraq.

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AH! PTSD!

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is everywhere, and people are trying to blame it for everything. Even the Fort Hood shooting was blamed on PTSD (even-though the shooter had never been overseas).

Post-traumatic stress happens to everyone. It’s probably happened to you. Ever have a close call while driving and had your pulse race when you thought about it later? That’s post-traumatic stress. The disorder part comes when you can’t stop reliving that stress. Every person that comes close to death will have post-traumatic stress.

The more people around you that have gone through the same thing makes it easier to break the stress. When you have a close call in the car, everyone can relate, and talk about a car accident. Not many people will talk about having someone try to kill them during a bank robbery. So not many people can relate, and it feels like no one understands.

In the next couple weeks I’m going to discuss the things I went through after combat in 2003. I have pictures of bullet holes that should have killed me. My entire unit should have been wiped out more then once. I can’t even remember how many times I should have died in the first four months in Iraq.

If you are dealing with anything that people don’t understand, keep talking to people until you find someone that does understand. It doesn’t have to be a counselor. Your close friends and family are a good place to start. If you can’t find anyone, e-mail me at ben@modernselfprotection and I’ll talk to you.